A Man of Many Names
by The Queen of Asgard
Summary: Seven strangers each encounter a man with no face. Each has a different story to tell, each with a different name for what they have encountered.
1. Chapter 1

-This is a second hand account, passed down from me by my great grandmother who passed away several years ago. This story is truthful to the best of my knowledge but when the story was told, my grandmother was senile and could barely hear. This is the story of my grandmother Lucy and the Slenderman.-

* * *

_ In the spring of 1921, my family and I moved from Sand Point, Connecticut to the rural beginnings of Astoria, Oregon to begin a new life. My father was a fisherman and a rough talking man who enjoyed slapping around anyone smaller than him, myself and my 11 siblings included. Our mother had passed away from a sudden illness not one year before that._

_ Life in Oregon was rough, especially in the northern part of the state, the streets of Astoria barely more than wooden planks on the muddy ground and the storms that blew in off the Pacific Ocean and through the Columbia were something awful! We lived in a small flat on Pickett Street, the hills sloping up into the lush green forests that coated the entire Pacific, or so my brother Johnny liked to tell me. I believed him. The cool scent of the pines was so sharp, they felt like they were piercing your nose! However, that was the only thing about Oregon I enjoyed._

_ In the fall of 1921, the four oldest children went to school. I was not amongst that group by my brother Johnny and sisters Rosie, Madison and Catherine went off with book bags in hand and smiles on their faces while we stayed in the company of Michael, my second eldest brother. It was there they learned the tales of The Tallman to tell to me and my siblings. Around a fire in the stove one night while our father was away, fishing on the deadly tides of the Pacific, we learned the tales of The Tallman._

_ "He's eight feet tall and wears a suit like a banker would wear, all black and frightening." Johnny rumbled in his deep voice for he was nearly a man, "He's got no face and he has arms that reach his knees!"_

_ "That's poppycock," Madison argued, "I heard that his arms reach the ground and he's as bald as an egg!" _

_ The two bickered for a few moments more before Catherine quietly shooed me and the rest of my siblings off to our beds. Even though most of them fell asleep quickly, I couldn't help thinking about The Tallman. I turned to peer into the darkness, the rain pounding on the side of our house and buried my head against my sister's neck, trying not to cry out every time a bolt of lightning crashed across the sky._

_ The next few months went by without incident. But when we were least expecting it, tragedy struck. My second youngest brother Luke was killed in a car accident, the only other car in the county running him over. Our father wasn't home at the time so we had to wait for a funeral. I remember running out to the woods in terror when I found out. Luke had always been one my favorite brothers and now…now he was gone. I ran and ran as fast as my legs could carry me and when I finally fell, I found that I was in a different part of the forest and I was very lost. All thought of Luke from my mind, I tried to find a way back but to no avail._

_ Day turned into dusk and I found myself alone in the woods. The thoughts of Tallman slowly crept back into my mind, the eerie faceless creature haunting my thoughts. _

_ That's when I saw it. It was tall, like my brother had said and had no face. What my brother forgot to mention was the fear that one felt when they were anywhere near it…Or I should say "he". I was afraid to look away but I felt compiled to do as such. Only for a moment did I turn my eyes but when I looked back up, he was closer. Oh, how my heart nearly leapt from my chest! The air around him seemed to ripple as his non-existent eyes found my own. I didn't know how it was even possible but he could see me, even without really seeing me._

_ I tried to run but I knew it was impossible to get away so I awaited my fate, watching him move closer. The shadows seemed to bend to his will, wrapping around him like poisonous snakes. He wore a crisp black suit like the undertaker who had taken Luke away from us and almost looked like he had appendages like tentacles protruding from his back. My back hit a tree as tears poured from my eyes._

_ He moved even closer, my fear nearly constricting my chest as if he already had the shadows over my mouth, suffocating me. Finally, he stopped right in front of the tree I stood in front of and stopped. Neither of us moved for what felt like an eternity._

_ "You are sad," I didn't quite hear the voice like I expected but knew it was his._

_ "…What?" I managed to spit out because what else could I have said? _

_ "You are sad," The monster repeated, "Why are you sad?"_

_ I opened my mouth and then closed it, like a fish that my father had just caught, "M-my brother…he died." _

_ "Ah, yes. I should have known. A close sibling. Terrible deaths." He mused. I realized that he wasn't speaking to me exactly but I could hear his voice in my mind, soft as velvet. It was almost as scary as he was, "Tell me Child, what is your name?"_

_ "Lucy." I murmured, "My name is Lucy." Then I had the audacity to ask him my own question, "What's yours?"_

_ The creature tilted his head slightly as if provoked by my simple inquiry, "I go by many names, Lucy. Your kind has always given me such creative names. What do you wish to call me?"_

_ "Tallman!" I nearly yelled, surprising myself, "At least…that's what my brother calls you."_

_ "There are more of you?" He asked, almost in a surprised tone of voice, "How many more."_

_ "Elev…I mean, ten now." I said sadly. Why was I even talking to this nightmare?!_

_ "A pity," The creature agreed, "Yes, I like this name, Tallman. You know, I've been stalking you."_

_ "Stalking me?!" My heart started to race again. He WAS going to eat me! Jesus, just take me now!_

_ "Yes. You looked interesting and it appears I was correct. I was going to eat you but I believe you have family that is far more interesting."_

_ My heart clenched. Did he mean the rest of my family?! "No, not any of them. I don't want them, Lucy. I want you…not even you, really. Family that is to come."_

_ "Huh?"_

_ He sighed, actually sighed, inside my head, "It's so difficult for your minds to grasp the concept. I wish I could show you but I can't. Too many rules to be broken."_

_ "There are rules to what you can and can't tell me?" I asked, my conscious already being lifted. He wasn't going to eat me or my family…at least, not my brothers or sisters._

_ "Yes. Cosmic rules that don't concern you." He offered me his hand but when I saw rows upon rows of sharp teeth creeping over his face, I decided not to take it, "Come, it is getting late and I'm sure your family is worried."_

_ The walk back out of the woods was a quiet one but I knew that I was either with the safest thing in these woods or the most dangerous. I knew in my heart that it was the latter._

_ Finally, we walked out of the woods and I looked back to thank the Tallman but when I turned back around, he was gone._

_ Many years went by before I saw The Tallman again. I knew that if I ever went back out into the woods, he wouldn't hesitate to kill me and so I kept me and my siblings away from them at all times. Our father passed away in a fishing accident when I was 24, right before I met your great grandfather Patrick. It was at his funeral I saw Tallman again, in the shade of a great oak tree in the cemetery. He nodded at me and I nodded back, wondering if I would see him as each of my family died._

_ Indeed, I did see him at the funerals of my four older siblings but never saw him at the ones for my younger brothers and sisters. I was never quite sure what he meant by my family but each and every one of my siblings lived to be quite old, each dying of natural causes._

_ Now here I am, laying in this stupid bed without a care in the world, trying to pass on what I know about him to you, my dear girl._

* * *

I leaned back from my computer and sighed. Glancing up at the clock, I noticed that the library would be closing in about 5 minutes. I quickly logged off, grabbed my stuff and waved the librarian goodnight. It was cold outside, promising an early snow. My breaths came out in long, drawn out sighs as I took off down the main drag towards my little apartment.

Now, usually, I walk through the park to get to the other side of town but tonight, something told me that the part wasn't the correct way to go. I shrugged and decided to follow my best interest. I followed the sidewalk, trying to imagine it in my grandmother's time, what with the boardwalks and whatnot.

That's when I heard it. The whisper on the breeze that tickled the loose hairs on my cheek and made goosebumps stand up on my arms. My name was the one that had passed me, like a warning. Like a death sentence.

I slowly turned around and saw it standing there. He was just as my grandmother had described. Tall, dressed in a black suit and oh-so-slender. My heart began to race as I turned on my heel and began to run as fast as I possibly could. He could find me of course. I might as well have been walking around with a giant target painted to my back. All these years since she had passed and I never thought the person would be me.

I ran into the park. What else was I supposed to do?! I kept my head down, trying to keep my feet on the path when all of the sudden.

THWACK!

I went sprawling backwards, the wind knocked from my chest, my eyes training up to the sky above. I tried to breathe but it was impossible. The air grew even colder and I began to cry.

I managed to stand up, wincing as my name came again, this time, sealing my fate. Slowly, I wheeled around, knowing what I would find. However, when I looked back, I saw no one there. Maybe I had scared him…

An ice cold hand at my throat told me otherwise. I struggled in vain as I was lifted off the ground, feet kicking around like a marionette with one string still attached.

_ "Hello, child."_ His voice echoed throughout my mind and I knew my grandmother was right. It was as soft and deadly as the lining of a casket, "I've been waiting so long to meet you."

I couldn't say anything. I tried to think of something to convince him to let me go but in my mind's eye, I could see him. He was always there, watching me, waiting for me to turn around and notice him, even from the cradle. He stood by and watched me as I grew up. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I stopped struggling, realizing my fate.

_ "I've been waiting far too long for you, dear girl."_ He purred softly, the shadows wrapping around me like the linen on mummies. I managed a strangled cry before the shadows engulfed me completely.

Everything went dark.

The park remained silent.

The Tallman was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

He walked home that night alone.

He surprised himself by doing it. He rarely traversed the short walkway between his office and home by himself but that night, everyone was going out to the pub to watch the football match on TV. He had never really been much of a football fan himself and instead of waiting around, glaring down at his clock, he decided to suck it up and walk down the street and through the thicket that surrounded the backside of the small apartment complex where he lived.

He disliked making this trek by himself. There had been…issues in the woods there. Plenty of muggings and whatnot but it was the fastest way to the apartment and he didn't want to spend more time on street corners, getting hustled for money than he had to. He had hardly any to spend anyway. His boss hadn't given him a raise in almost three years but he knew that since his boss and the man's father had been close, the manager wouldn't dare fire him.

He was the last one out of the office, the rest of his colleagues walking away in twos and threes, their breath hanging in the early winter air, laughing about what someone had said earlier in the office. He didn't bother with the office gossip. He didn't care for who liked who and what was on the telly the night before. If he wanted to know, he would merely Google it or Yahoo it or something like that. He didn't really care.

He enjoyed the Internet as much as the next person but always found himself wandering to strange websites. Today had yielded several more awful fanfictions, (he himself had read more than his fair share and today, they were terrible), some old knock-knock jokes he would have to try at the next office party, and a story.

It was the story that had gotten his attention. It was posted by a young woman over in the States about an experience her great grandmother had had growing up. He had read several stories like it but had never read one in such detail. The whole thing was about the girl's grandmother wandering into the woods after her brother died and being confronted by an entity that the man only knew as The One in Black. He had shivered in delight over every detail and word that the girl had posted. It was like he was really living there with the girl!

He glanced across the street to make sure that no cars (or panhandlers) were visible and jogged across. Even the light physical movement got his blood pressure to rise and he patted his beer belly, wondering if maybe he should work out again.

Shrugging, the man stepped off the sidewalk and over the grassy knoll, leaving the road behind him. The ground sloped downwards slightly and he found himself jogging down the hill at a moderate pace. How odd he would look if someone had seen him at that very moment! A man in a three piece black suit and a tie running down a hill! He shook his head and chuckled at the idea. He didn't much care for running but it made him feel a little better about himself. God only knew he needed the self confidence boost.

Frowning, he peered into the dark wood. A fog seemed to cling to the tree line and where the lights from the other buildings shone through, there were none. He would be all alone in the fog with no ideas of where to go.

However, the man believed himself to smarter than the average bear (even if he truly wasn't) and began to walk through the woods, still thinking about the story he had read. The idea gnawed on his mind as he took hesitant steps through the underbrush, trying to ignore the sting of a thorn as it snagged his sock. He slapped it away and continued to walk, beginning to wonder if he would ever see the lights of his household in the ever thickening fog.

He wondered if he should turn to go back. Turning around, his heart dropped to his shoes. He couldn't see the way back! Even if he went back, how could he be sure he wouldn't wind up on another part of the road, even further away from his apartment?! The idea scared him almost more than walking through the rest of the woods.

The man's heart began to beat violently in his chest as he began to quicken his pace, not caring how dirty his trouser legs got. Every so often, he glanced behind him, making sure that nothing was following him, which would have been silly if he had stopped to think about it. The fog made everything look different and with each step, he remembered some of the words that were spoken between the girl and The One in Black.

_"You know, I've been stalking you." _

_ "Stalking me?!" _

_ "Yes. You looked interesting and it turns out I was correct…" _

He turned around once more and his heart froze in his chest. From about fifty feet away, he could see the black suit and the pale, featureless face that had haunted his nightmares. His heart flew from his chest and he whirled around to take off in the opposite direction. It was him.

In the distance, lights glittered intermittently in the fog. He let out a sigh of relief. He had just seen something in the fog, of course. There was no Tallman or One wearing Black…It was just his overactive imagination, of course! What had he truly been thinking?!

His pace slowed as he reached the lights, the fog clearing out the closer he got to the lights. However, when he was nearly at the lights, he stopped, realizing the lights weren't real.

"Oh God…" He whimpered when he saw what the lights were. They were nothing more than ornaments glittering in the ice white palm of HIM. The creature with no face stood 10 feet away from the man, the balls of white light glittering like spirits in the palm of his hand in a firefly dance. If he didn't think the creature could get more terrifying, its face suddenly split into an inhumanly toothy smile, sharp and deadly before a horrible voice rang out inside his head. The girl had been right. His voice was just as dark and deadly as the sound of funeral bells.

_"There is no gods here, only monsters. Only me."_ He seethed in his mind. He fell to his knees and began to cry out to God, to Buddha, to whoever would take him from this place. The One in Black stepped forward and caressed the man's cheek with a long, black tentacle, _"Another prize, I assume? Two down, five to go." _

He couldn't do anything while the things wrapped around his body and held him in a vice grip. The pull was too strong. The man tried to scream; he opened his mouth but not a whisper was heard. The toothy sneer became even wider as the creature swallowed the man into darkness.

With an audible pop, the man disappeared from this world and into another even darker and more dismal than the one before.

And the creature swaggered off into the darkness to become a predator once more.

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**I told myself I wasn't going to make this into a story but I decided to. So...enjoy! Review if you so wish. I might update again if I get a review or two...**

**Queenie**


	3. Chapter 3

"Mom?!" A loud voice called through the dark house as the door opened. A haggard woman looked up, her brown eyes tired and weary. She furrowed her brow and flipped on a light, the telltale _tap, tap, tap_ of her son's cane giving his position away.

"What is it, honey?" She asked, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation. She loved him dearly but ever since his father had passed away, he had become needy. He had been becoming so independent but now…now she felt she could barely leave the house for an hour without finding him in the darkness. Not like he could really tell the difference.

"Mom, is that you?" The voice called up the stairs and the older woman leaned against the bannister, wishing her life was anything but this. A secondhand mom with a secondhand son in a house where darkness reigned and depression ran rampant in both mother and child. She hated it here. She hated the apartments that reeked like body odor and smoke no matter how many times she got on her hands and knees and scrubbed the carpets and walls.

The only consolidation she had was her beauty, noticeable even under the layers of life she had come to accommodate over the long years. Thick black lashes surrounded sea green eyes, ringed by permanent bags. She had luscious auburn hair shot with grey and white that made her look older than she really was. On the best days it made her feel mature. On the worst, it made her feel ancient. She was tall and skinny with elegant fingers and a long graceful neck, still going strong. Her son had inherited so much of her. His own hair had been trimmed short and his eyes, while they too were the deep sea green, looked out only into blackness.

"Yes sweetie, it's me. I'm just going to change and then I have a date. Do you want me to make you something?" She called up the stairs, peeling off her low heeled shoes.

"Um, I'm good. I'll just wait for you to get home." His response was curt and short. Biting her lip, she wandered into the kitchen, feeling guilty that she was leaving him home again. What more could she do though? Between work and her boyfriend, she rarely had time for her child. What was worse than the guilt of not being there for her son was the shame that gnawed at her belly each and every time she put on the lipstick: a whore colored red. He said it was his favorite on her. He would take care of them, he promised as he used her again and again in bed. He had been good to them, yes, but at the expense of another woman. His wife was ignorant. She would never accept a union between a gutter rat like the woman and her rich husband. They were just too good for that.

She fixed a sandwich and put it on the counter, nibbling on her lower lip. She felt so guilty. So, so guilty. But it was for him. It was so her son could have a better life. That's what she told herself at least. She jogged up to her bedroom, taking the steps two at a time and peered into her son's room. He was sitting in the darkness, his eyes gazing off at the closet, his fingers tracing the lines of a book. He looked almost…angry.

"Sweetie, there's a sandwich for you downstairs," She murmured, coming into the bedroom to plant a kiss on his own thick red locks. He shied away from her, making her feel guiltier.

"Not hungry," He muttered again, "I'll see you later."

His mother was hurt. He never turned down food like that. Pursing her lips, she left the room, wandering towards her own bedroom. The hallway was dark and she attempted to turn on the light…swearing softly when she realized that the bulb was broken. God, she hated this apartment.

Feeling her way towards the room, she stubbed her toe twice before opening the door and wandering over to the vanity to turn on the small light that sat next to her multitude of large baubles and expensive makeup…all gifts from him. She silently thanked the gods for not allowing her son to see these simple attempts at affection and grabbed an old ratty hairbrush, running it through her long hair.

"I'll give you whatever you want," He breathed into her air as he took her from behind: his favorite position. It made him feel powerful and if it was what he wanted then why should she deny him that?

"Whatever I want?" She moaned as his hand cupped an unmentionable.

"Of course, pet. I love you."

Oh those three simple words that ranked up there with the greatest lies told to a woman. She knew it wasn't true but in the heat of the moment, for a split second, she believed his mouth as is captured hers again. She was petty perfection. Her looks would fade. His money would not. His wife could get new breasts for him to squeeze. She would merely get more wrinkles. He would get a new toy. He always did. The woman knew that she was just another in a long line of mistresses. She didn't care. He paid her. She was a whore. She wore the lipstick as a badge of shame, not a badge of honor.

Her son could never see her. She was thankful for that. Somewhere deep in her heart of hearts she was glad he never saw her in her stupid little affair with a married man. She knew he could hear her and her muted phone calls and silly love letters. He could hear the passion play whenever he came over. He knew of the well-guarded secrets that were whispered between paper thin walls. That shamed her most of all.

She sighed and slid the copper tube across her already full pink lips, leaving a trail of virgin blood in its wake. The bullet was cold against her skin and it made her shiver. It was a nail in her coffin, a final sentence that normality would never find her.

Hair teased and heels on, she felt more like a whore than ever before. She frowned in the direction of her son's room as she walked down the hallway, still feeling her way through the darkness. She knew this didn't bother him. At least, he never said it did. She could just replace the bulb when she got home and…

"Mom?"

The address hung in the air like a rancid stench. She turned around slowly peering into her son's room. The book was at his side but he was still staring across the room at the corner where two walls met.

"What is it?" She asked quietly, walking into the room.

"Mom, there's someone in the corner." The statement made her blood run cold. "I can see him…he's…staring at me. He wants you. He says…" Her son paused, his eyes darting around unseeing, "He says that he needs you right now." He turned his head to see her and for a moment, she knew he could see her clearly. Shame washed over her when she saw his eyes dart towards her mouth lined with poison and her eyes full of fear, "Mom, you have to go. You have to run." He hissed, shoving her away. She went stumbling back and hissed as she twisted her ankle. However, she took her son's advice. She raced back into her bedroom and slammed the door behind her, locking it. Her heart was racing at a million miles a minute, her breathing coming out in short and shallow gasps.

_"All dressed up and no place to go…"_ The voice was soft and deadly, a snake on the hunt. She didn't want to turn her eyes to the corner of her room for she knew that something waited for her there. Her guilt personified. Her whoring come to life. She knew that it meant to take her.

"No…My son…" She whispered, tears rushing down her cheeks, "I'm so sorry."

She felt something curl around her shoulder and she whimpered softly. A hand reached around and caressed her cheek, wiping away the tear.

"Your apology is noted," The voice hissed again, "But it will not save you."

"No, wait, please!" She screamed as black tentacles wrapped around her body and she disappeared from the room, the light bulb in the lamp on the vanity shattering instantly. The man in the suit turned from the spot she had stood and opened the door, the darkness and shadows wrapping around him like a blanket. She was gone now, awaiting her judgment. He walked slowly, the carpet muffling his steps. The boy was in the doorway, his eyesight restored.

"Be gone now, child. I have no use for you." The man said simply, touching the boy's forehead with a long, slender finger.

The boy nodded and then crept back into his room, making sure that the light was turned on before he crawled into bed.


End file.
